Kathleen Lisa (Hauswirth) Sawaya, 57, died peacefully at her home on June 8, 2022, in Sanford, North Carolina.
Kate was born April 19, 1965 in Seattle, Washington. She moved to the Olympia area as a young girl where she grew up in Thurston County engaged in rabbit, goat, and horse 4-H; along with long bike rides with Lady the German Shepherd developing her lifelong love for the outdoors. She graduated from North Thurston High School in 1983. In high school she was a Varsity letter swimmer all 4 years and a track and field participant. She also loved to work and always had a school and summer job whether it be picking blueberries, babysitting, restaurants, pumping gas, or delivering newspapers. Kate always had an entertaining story about work.
After high school she enlisted with the United States Coast Guard where she served in Kodiak, Alaska. From there, she transferred her service to the United States Army and earned her Jumpmaster wings with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, being one of the first women to accomplish such. She was deployed to Operation Desert Storm in January 1990 and served a tour in Saudi Arabia during what is now called the first Gulf War. She never backed down from a challenge and was incredibly proud of her military service to our country. Following her military service, she relocated to North Carolina where she met her husband Michael “Mike” Sawaya in Sanford. She and Mike are members of Tramway Baptist Church and Kate enjoyed teaching swim lessons to the neighborhood children and riding Bella, her horse.
She is survived by her husband Mike, daughters Jaclyn Johns (Ian) and Jenna Schuster, grandsons Bennett and Tibido all of Sanford, son Christian Schuster (Alisa) of Richfield, MN; mother Judy Gudyka (Mike), father Ron Hauswirth, stepfather John Libby (Ann); sisters Kris Estes, Kari Martin (Kevin), Sarah Cruz (Jose), Laura Mitchell (Jeremy), and Megan Libby Sturgis (Nathan); and numerous nieces and nephews.
She is preceded in death by her sister Elizabeth Libby White, maternal grandparents Frank and Patricia Scheberle, and maternal great grandparents Frank and Marjorie Sanders.
A visitation will be held Wednesday, June 15, 2022 from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM at Tramway Baptist Church with the funeral service following at 11:30 AM with Rev. Jacob Peterson officiating. Burial will follow at 2:00 PM at Sandhill’s State Veteran’s Cemetery in Spring Lake, NC.
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